I thought that the question of the lack or excess of an Element as the source of the problem was a free decision of the author. So in my story I was working with the idea that the Main Character’s Problem, Nonacceptance, was due to the character’s tendency to not accept/not tolerate the present situation (i.e., the abundance or excess of Nonacceptance)
But now I’ve discovered, reading the Thematic Report, that “The Main Character’s lack of Nonacceptance is what gets her into trouble”
Reading posts about lack vs. abundance, I found that this point is determined by the Growth Start. And now I’m trying to figure out how to handle this to make sense of my story. But it’s not at all clear to me if the Problem is lack of Nonacceptance, how can Acceptance could be the Solution? As far as I can see, lack of Nonacceptance is Acceptance in its own right. I’d like to explore some possibilities, before changing the entire storyform to conform to this particular point…
UPDATE 1: Bearing in mind that the Main Character is Steadfast and that, in this case, it is considered that the problem resides in the environment and not in the character, I thought perhaps that the lack of Nonacceptance was a problem that resided outside the character, but I am not sure when it says that for Steadfast Characters the problem is in the environment, this refers to Main Character’s Problem or to OS Problem.
UPDATE 2: I’m following New Instant Dramatica from the book Dramatica For Screenwriters, and from the examples of Armando Saldaña Mora, he seems to be indifferent to this determination of Growth Start = lack, Growth Stop = abundance; since in the examples presented with Growth Start, the problem (both Main Character and OS Throughline) is described as “excess”… Maybe I’m exaggerating in wanting to follow such a detail aspect to the letter?
UPDATE 3: I realized that Start stories are difficult for me. Even considering other elements I don’t grasp the idea of the opposite (Solution) of a lack Element (Problem). For example, it is puzzling for me to understand how the Solution for Problem of lack of Disbelief is Faith or for lack of Control is Uncontrolled… I’m done for today u.u.